Yellowstone Handbook 2019History of the Park |
Yellowstone Resources and Issues Handbook. Published by the National Park Service (NPS).
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H IS T ORY
People have spent time in the Yellowstone region for more than 11,000 years. Rock structures like this are
evidence of the early presence of people in the area.
History of the Park
The human history of the Yellowstone region goes
back more than 11,000 years. The stories of people in
Yellowstone are preserved in archeological sites and
objects that convey information about past human
activities in the region, and in people’s connections
to the land that provide a sense of place or identity.
Today, park managers use archeological and
historical studies to help us understand how people
lived here in the past. Ethnography helps us learn
about how groups of people identify themselves
and their connections to the park. Research is also
conducted to learn how people continue to affect
and be affected by these places, many of which have
been relatively protected from human impacts. Some
alterations to the landscape, such as the construction
of roads and other facilities, are generally accepted
as necessary to accommodate the needs of visitors
today. Information on the possible consequences of
modern human activities, both inside and outside
the parks, is used to determine how best to preserve
Yellowstone’s natural and cultural resources, and the
quality of the visitors’ experience.
History of Yellowstone National Park
Precontact
•
People have been in Yellowstone
more than 11,000 years, as shown
by archeological sites, trails, and
oral histories.
•
•
•
Railroad arrived in 1883, allowing
easier visitor access.
•
Although the Tukudika (a.k.a.
Sheep Eaters) are the most wellknown group of Native Americans
to use the park, many other tribes
and bands lived in and traveled
through what is now Yellowstone
National Park prior to and after
European American arrival.
European Americans Arrive
•
European Americans began
exploring in the early 1800s.
•
Osborne Russell recorded early
visits in the 1830s.
First organized expedition explored
Yellowstone in 1870.
Protection of the Park Begins
•
Yellowstone National Park
established in 1872.
Park Management Evolves
•
1963:“Leopold Report” released.
Recommended changes to how
wildlife is managed in the park.
•
1970: New bear management
plan eliminated open-pit garbage
dumps in park.
The US Army managed the park
from 1886 through 1918.
•
1988: “Summer of Fire.”
•
1995: Wolves restored to the park.
•
Automobiles allowed into the park
in 1915, making visits easier and
more economical.
•
1996: Federal buyout of gold mine
northeast of Yellowstone protected
the park.
•
National Park Service created in
1916.
•
First boundary adjustment of the
park made in 1929.
History of the Park
13
Humans in Yellowstone
H IS T ORY
Paleoindian Period
~11,000 years ago
10,000 years ago
A Clovis point from this period Folsom people were in the
was made from obsidian
Yellowstone area as early as
obtained at Obsidian Cliff.
10,900 years ago—the date of
an obsidian Folsom projectile
point found near Pinedale,
Wyoming. Sites all over the
park yield paleoindian artifacts,
particularly concentrated around
Yellowstone Lake.
The Earliest Humans in Yellowstone
Human occupation of the greater Yellowstone area
seems to follow environmental changes of the last
15,000 years. How far back is still to be determined—
there are no known sites in the park that date to
this time—but humans probably were not using this
landscape when glaciers and a continental ice sheet
covered most of what is now Yellowstone National
Park. The glaciers carved out valleys with rivers that
people could follow in pursuit of Ice Age mammals
such as the mammoth and the giant bison. The last
period of ice coverage ended 13,000–14,000 years
ago, sometime after that, but before 11,000 years ago,
humans where here on this landscape.
Archeologists have found physical evidence of
human presence in the form of distinctive stone tools
and projectile points. From these artifacts, scientists
surmise that they hunted mammals and gathered berries, seeds, and plants.
As the climate in the Yellowstone region warmed
and dried, the animals, vegetation, and human
lifestyles also changed. Large Ice Age animals that
were adapted to cold and wet conditions became
extinct. The glaciers left behind layers of sediment
in valleys in which grasses
and sagebrush thrived, and
pockets of exposed rocks
that provided protected areas
for aspens and fir to grow.
The uncovered volcanic
plateau sprouted lodgepole
forests. People adapted to
these changing conditions
and were eating a diverse diet
including medium and small
animals such as deer and
Cody knife (9,350 years ago)
from the Yellowstone National
Park museum collection
14
9,350 years ago
Yellowstone Resources and Issues Handbook, 2019
A site on the shore of
Yellowstone Lake has been
dated to 9,350 years ago.
The points had traces of
blood from rabbit, dog,
Hell Gap point, deer, and bighorn sheep.
made 9,600–
People seem to have
10,000 years
occupied this site for short,
ago
seasonal periods.
bighorn sheep as early as 9,500 years ago.
This favorable climate would continue more than
9,000 years. Evidence of these people in Yellowstone
remained uninvestigated long after archeologists
began excavating sites elsewhere in North America.
Archeologists used to think high-elevation regions
such as Yellowstone were inhospitable to humans
and, thus, did little exploratory work in these
areas. However, park superintendent Philetus W.
Norris (1877–82) found artifacts in Yellowstone
and sent them to the Smithsonian Institution in
Washington, D.C. Today, archeologists study environmental change as a tool for understanding human
uses of areas such as Yellowstone.
More than 1,850 archeological sites have been
documented in Yellowstone National Park, with the
majority dating to the Archaic period. Sites contain
evidence of successful hunts for bison, sheep, elk,
deer, bear, cats, and wolves. Campsites and trails in
Yellowstone also provide evidence of early use. Some
of the trails used in the park today have likely been
used by people since the Paleoindian period.
Some of the historic peoples from this area, such
as the Crow and Sioux, arrived sometime during
the 1500s and around 1700, respectively. Prehistoric
vessels known as “Intermountain Ware” have been
found in the park and surrounding area, and these
link the Shoshone to the area as early as approximately 700 years ago.
Increased Use
People seem to have increased their use of the
Yellowstone area beginning about 3,000 years ago.
During this time, they began to use the bow and
arrow, which replaced the atlatl, or spear-thrower,
that had been used for thousands of years. With
the bow and arrow, people hunted more efficiently.
They also developed sheep traps and bison corrals,
and used both near the park, and perhaps in it. This
H IS T ORY
Archaic Period (8,000–1,500 years ago)
7,000 years ago
Vegetation similar to what we
find today begins to appear.
Projectile points begin to be
notched.
9,000 years ago until 1,000
common era (CE), people leave
traces of camps on the shores
of Yellowstone Lake.
increased use of Yellowstone may have occurred
when the environment was warmer, favoring extended seasonal use on and around the Yellowstone
Plateau. Archeologists and other scientists are working together to study evidence such as plant pollen,
landforms, and tree rings to understand how the
area’s environment changed over time.
3,000 years ago
1,500 years ago
Oral histories of the Salish
place their ancestors in the
Yellowstone area.
Bow and arrow begins to
replace atlatl (throwing spear);
sheep traps (in the mountains)
and bison corrals (on the plains)
begin to be used in the Rocky
Mountain region.
Obsidian Cliff National Historic Landmark
The Little Ice Age
Climatic evidence confirms the Yellowstone area experienced colder temperatures during what is known
Location
Grand Loop Road between Mammoth and Norris.
Significance
•
Obsidian is found in volcanic areas where the magma
is rich in silica and the lava flow has cooled without
forming crystals, creating a black glass that can be
honed to an exceptionally thin edge.
An ancient trail, now called the Bannock Trail, is shown
in two possible locations. Physical evidence of the
trail is extremely difficult to find. Historic maps and
journals do not match modern maps, and oral histories
of tribes do not always match what little evidence
exists of the trail. The solid line shows the trail’s
location as interpreted from 1878 to about 1960. Some
scholars today think the dashed line shows the main
Bannock Trail more accurately, but it is still subject to
disagreement because of the many known ‘spokes’ of
the trail and some errors on the 1869 map.
•
Unlike most obsidian, which occurs as small rocks
strewn amid other formations, Obsidian Cliff has an
exposed vertical thickness of about 98 feet (30 m).
•
Obsidian was first quarried from this cliff for toolmaking more than 11,000 years ago.
•
It is the United States’ most widely dispersed source
of obsidian by hunter-gatherers. It is found along
trade routes from western Canada to Ohio.
•
Obsidian Cliff is the primary source of obsidian in a
large concentration of Midwestern sites, including
about 90% of obsidian found in Hopewell mortuary
sites in the Ohio River Valley (about 1,850–1,750
years ago).
Recent History
About 90% of the forest on Obsidian Cliff plateau
burned in 1988. The fire did not damage the cliff face,
but it cleared the surface, creating optimal conditions for
archeological surveys. Those surveys added substantially
to knowledge about how obsidian was mined from the
bedrock and collected as cobbles from the overlying glacial
till. Staff are now researching the intensity of use of this
obsidian, both within the park and across North America.
The kiosk at Obsidian Cliff, constructed in 1931, was the
first wayside exhibit in a US national park. It was listed on
the National Register in 1982. The site was designated a
National Historic Landmark in 1996.
History of the Park
15
H IS T ORY
500–1700s CE
1400
1450
1600s
Oral histories of the Kiowa place their
ancestors in the Yellowstone area from this
time through the 1700s.
Little Ice Age North American tribes in the southwest begin
begins.
acquiring horses in the mid- to late 1600s.
Ancestors of the Crow may have come into the
Yellowstone ecosystem during this time.
1700s
Lakota Sioux begin
exploring the
Yellowstone area.
CE = Common Era (replaces AD)
as the Little Ice Age—mid-1400s to mid-1800s.
Archeological evidence indicates fewer people used
this region during this time, although more sites dating to this period have been located. Campsites appear to have been used by smaller groups of people,
mostly in the summer. Such a pattern of use would
make sense in a cold region where hunting and gathering were practical for only a few months each year.
Historic Tribes
Greater Yellowstone’s location at the convergence of
the Great Plains, Great Basin, and Plateau Indian cultures means that many tribes have a traditional connection to the land and its resources. For thousands
of years before Yellowstone became a national park,
it was a place where people hunted, fished, gathered
plants, quarried obsidian, and used the thermal waters for religious and medicinal purposes.
Tribal oral histories indicate more extensive use
during the Little Ice Age. Kiowa stories place their
ancestors here from around C.E. 1400 to 1700.
Ancestors to contemporary Blackfeet, Cayuse, Coeur
d’Alene, Bannock, Nez Perce, Shoshone, Crow,
Sioux, Lakota, and Umatilla, among others, continued to travel the park on the already established
trails. They visited geysers, conducted ceremonies,
hunted, gathered plants and minerals, and engaged
in trade. The Shoshone report family groups came to
Yellowstone to gather obsidian, which they used to
field-dress bison. Some tribes used the Fishing Bridge
area as a rendezvous site.
The Crow occupied the area generally east of
the park, and the Blackfeet occupied the area to the
north. The Shoshone, Bannock, and other tribes of
the plateaus to the west traversed the park annually
to hunt on the plains to the east. Other Shoshonean
groups hunted in open areas west and south
of Yellowstone.
In the early 1700s, some tribes in this region began
to acquire the horse. Some historians believe the
horse fundamentally changed their lifestyles because
tribes could now travel faster and farther to hunt
bison and other animals of the plains.
The Tukudika: “Sheep Eaters”
Some groups of Shoshone who adapted to a mountain existence chose not to acquire the horse. These
included the Tukudika, or Sheep Eaters, who used
their dogs to transport food, hides, and other provisions. Sheep Eaters acquired their name from the bighorn sheep whose migrations they followed. Bighorn
sheep were a significant part of their diet, and they
crafted the carcasses into a wide array of tools. For
example, they soaked sheep horns in hot springs to
make them pliable, then bent them into bows. They
traded these bows, as well as clothing and hides, to
other tribes.
European Americans Arrive
Wickiups provided temporary shelter for some Native
Americans while they were in Yellowstone. No
authentic, standing wickiups are known to remain in
the park.
16
Yellowstone Resources and Issues Handbook, 2019
In the late 1700s, fur traders traveled the great tributary of the Missouri River, the Yellowstone, in search
of Native Americans with whom to trade. They called
the river by its French name, “Roche Jaune.” As far as
historians know, pre-1800 European Americans did
not observe the hydrothermal activity in this area, but
they probably heard about these features from Native
American acquaintances.
H IS T ORY
Associated Tribes of Yellowstone National Park
•
Assiniboine and Sioux
•
Eastern Shoshone
•
Oglala Sioux
•
Umatilla Reservation
•
Blackfeet
•
Flandreau Santee Sioux
•
Rosebud Sioux
•
Yankton Sioux
•
Cheyenne River Sioux
•
•
Salish and Kootenai
•
Coeur d’Alene
Gros Ventre and
Assiniboine
Comanche
Kiowa
Shoshone–Bannock
•
•
•
Colville Reservation
Lower Brule Sioux
Sisseton Wahpeton
•
•
•
Note: Map shows tribal
reservations; it does not
show historic territory.
Crow
Nez Perce
Spirit Lake
•
•
•
Standing Rock Sioux
Crow Creek Sioux
Northern Arapaho
•
•
•
•
Northern Cheyenne
•
Turtle Mountain Band of
the Chippewa
Tribes used hydrothermal sites ceremonially and
medicinally. The Mud Volcano area is especially
significant for the Kiowa. Their tradition says that a
hot spring called Dragon’s Mouth (above) is where
their creator gave them the Yellowstone area for their
home. The Crow also have stories about this feature.
The Lewis and Clark Expedition (1804–1806),
sent by President Thomas Jefferson to explore the
newly acquired lands of the Louisiana Purchase, bypassed Yellowstone. They had heard descriptions of
the region but did not explore the Yellowstone River
beyond what is now Livingston, Montana.
A member of the Lewis and Clark Expedition,
John Colter, left that group during its return journey
to join trappers in the Yellowstone area. During his
travels, Colter probably skirted the northwest shore
of Yellowstone Lake and crossed the Yellowstone
River near Tower Fall, where he noted the presence
of “Hot Spring Brimstone.”
Not long after Colter’s explorations, the United
States became embroiled in the War of 1812,
which drew men and money away from exploration of the Yellowstone region. The demand for
furs resumed after the war and trappers returned
to the Rocky Mountains in the 1820s. Among
them was Daniel Potts, who published the first
History of the Park
17
H IS T ORY
late 1700s–1840s CE
late 1700s
1804–1806
1807–1808
1820s
1834–1835
Fur traders travel the rivers
into the Yellowstone region.
Tribes in the Yellowstone area
begin using horses.
The Lewis and Clark
Expedition passes within
50 miles of Yellowstone.
John Colter
likely explores
part of
Yellowstone.
Trappers return to
Yellowstone area.
Trapper Osborne Russell
encounters Tukudika (“Sheep
Eaters”) in Lamar Valley.
account of Yellowstone’s wonders as a letter in a
Philadelphia newspaper. Osborne Russell also published an account of his fur trapping in and around
Yellowstone during the 1830s and early 1840s
Mountain man Jim Bridger also explored
Yellowstone during this time. Like many trappers,
Bridger spun tall tales as a form of entertainment
around the evening fire. His stories inspired future
explorers to travel to see the real thing.
As quickly as it started, the trapper era ended. By
the mid-1840s, the market for beaver dropped, and
trappers moved on to guiding or other occupations.
Looking for Gold
Between 1863 and 1871, prospectors crisscrossed
the Yellowstone Plateau every year, searching for
gold and other precious minerals. Although gold was
found nearby, no big strikes were made inside what is
now Yellowstone National Park.
Expeditions Explore Yellowstone
Although Yellowstone had been thoroughly tracked
by tribes and trappers, in the view of the nation at
large it was really “discovered” by a series of formal
expeditions. The first organized attempt came in
1860 when Captain William F. Raynolds led a military expedition, but this group was unable to explore
The continued reports by mountain men about the
wonders of the Yellowstone area, artist renderings of
the area, and reports by explorers contributed to the
establishment of Yellowstone National Park in 1872.
18
Yellowstone Resources and Issues Handbook, 2019
the Yellowstone Plateau because of late spring snow.
The Civil War preoccupied the government during
the next few years. Immediately after the war, several
explorations were planned, but none actually got
underway.
The 1869 Folsom-Cook-Peterson Expedition
In 1869, three members of one would-be expedition
set out on their own. David E. Folsom, Charles W.
Cook, and William Peterson ignored the warning of
a friend who said their journey was “the next thing
to suicide” because of “Indian trouble” along the
way. From Bozeman, they traveled down the divide
between the Gallatin and Yellowstone rivers, crossed
the mountains to the Yellowstone and continued
into the present park. They observed Tower Fall, the
Grand Canyon of the Yellowstone—“this masterpiece of nature’s handiwork”—continued past Mud
Volcano to Yellowstone Lake, then south to West
Thumb. From there, they visited Shoshone Lake and
the geyser basins of the Firehole River. The expedition updated an earlier explorer’s map (DeLacy, in
1865), wrote an article for Western Monthly magazine, and refueled the excitement of scientists who
decided to see for themselves the truth of the party’s
tales of “the beautiful places we had found fashioned by the practiced hand of nature, that man had
not desecrated.”
The 1870 Washburn-Langford-Doane
Expedition
In August 1870, a second expedition set out for
Yellowstone, led by Surveyor-General Henry D.
Washburn, Montana politician and businessman
Nathaniel P. Langford, and attorney Cornelius
Hedges. Lt. Gustavus C. Doane provided military
escort from Fort Ellis (near present-day Bozeman,
Montana). The explorers traveled to Tower Fall,
Canyon, and Yellowstone Lake, followed the lake’s
eastern and southern shores, and explored the
Lower, Midway, and Upper geyser basins (where
they named Old Faithful). They climbed several
peaks, descended into the Grand Canyon of the
H IS T ORY
1850s–1871 CE
1850s
1860
1862
1869
1870
1871
Little Ice Age ends,
climate begins to
warm.
First organized
expedition attempts,
but fails, to explore the
Yellowstone Plateau.
Gold strikes
northwest of
Yellowstone.
Folsom–Cook–
Peterson
Expedition.
Washburn–Langford–Doane First Hayden
Expedition; Old Faithful
Expedition.
Geyser named.
survey team included two botanists, a meteorologist,
a zoologist, an ornithologist, a mineralogist, a topographer, and an agricultural statistician/entomologist,
in addition to an artist, a photographer, and support
staff. The Hayden Survey brought back scientific
corroboration of the earlier tales of thermal activity.
The expedition gave the world an improved map of
Yellowstone and visual proof of the area’s unique curiosities through the photographs of William Henry
Jackson and the art of Henry W. Elliot and Thomas
Moran. The expedition’s reports excited the scientific community and aroused even more national
interest in Yellowstone.
Hayden noted that in terms of scientific value,
“The geysers of Iceland…sink into insignificance in
comparison with the hot springs of the Yellowstone
and Fire-Hole Basins.”
Birth of a National Park
Several early trappers and expeditions passed by Tower
Fall, depicted here by painter Thomas Moran, who
accompanied the Hayden Expedition. One of the first
trappers may have been John Colter, who left the Lewis
and Clark Expedition as they returned east to join fur
trappers in the Yellowstone area. He probably crossed
the Yellowstone River near Tower Fall.
Yellowstone, and attempted measurements and
analyses of several of the prominent natural features.
The 1871 Hayden Expedition
Ferdinand V. Hayden, head of the US Geological and
Geographical Survey of the Territories, led the next
scientific expedition in 1871, simultaneous with a
survey by the US Army Corps of Engineers.
The history of science in Yellowstone formally
began with Hayden’s expeditions. Hayden’s 1871
The crowning achievement of the returning expeditions was helping to save Yellowstone from private
development. Langford and several of his companions promoted a bill in Washington in late 1871
and early 1872 that drew upon the precedent of
the Yosemite Act of 1864, which reserved Yosemite
Valley from settlement and entrusted it to the care
of the state of California. To permanently close to
settlement an expanse of the public domain the size
of Yellowstone would depart from the established
policy of transferring public lands to private ownership. But the wonders of Yellowstone—shown
through Jackson’s photographs, Moran’s paintings,
and Elliot’s sketches—had captured the imagination of Congress. Thanks to their reports, the United
States Congress established Yellowstone National
Park just six months after the Hayden Expedition. On
March 1, 1872, President Ulysses S. Grant signed the
Yellowstone National Park Protection Act into law.
The world’s first national park was born.
The Yellowstone National Park Protection Act
says “the headwaters of the Yellowstone River … is
hereby reserved and withdrawn from settlement, occupancy, or sale … and dedicated and set apart as a
History of the Park
19
H IS T ORY
1872–1900 CE
1872
1877
1883
Yellowstone National Park Nez Perce (Nee-me-poo) Northern Pacific
Protection Act establishes flee US Army through
Railroad reaches the
the first national park.
Yellowstone.
north boundary of
the park.
1886
1894
The US Army arrives to
administer the park.
They stay until 1918.
Poacher Ed Howell
captured; National Park
Protection Act (Lacey Act)
passed.
Flight of the Nez Perce
C A N A D A
Bear
Paw
Battlefield
M O N T A N A
Missoula
!
Clearwater
Battlefield
White Bird
Battlefield
!
West
Yellowstone
In Yellowstone
Only a small part of the route taken
by the Nez Perce who fled from
the US Army in 1877 went through
Yellowstone, and the Native Americans
largely eluded their pursuers while in
the park. However, the 13 days that the
Nez Perce spent in Yellowstone became
part of the tragic story they continue to
pass down to their children.
20
Red Lodge
!
Camas
Meadows
Battle
!
Summer 1877 brought tragedy to
the Nez Perce (or, in their language,
Nimi’ipu or Nee-Me-Poo). A band of
800 men, women, and children—
plus almost 2,000 horses—left their
homeland in what is now Oregon and
Idaho pursued by the US Army. Settlers
were moving into their homeland and
the US Government was trying to
force them onto a reservation. At Big
Hole, Montana, many of their group,
including women and children, were
killed in a battle with the Army. The
remainder of the group continued
fleeing, and entered Yellowstone
National Park on August 23.
Idaho Falls
W Y O M I N G
During the time they crossed the park,
the Nez Perce encountered about 25
visitors in the park, some more than
once. Warriors took hostage or attacked
several of these tourists, killing two. The
group continued traveling through the
park and over the Absaroka Mountains
into Montana. The Army stopped
them near the Bear’s Paw Mountains,
less than 40 miles (64 km) from the
Canadian border. This is where it is
believed the flight ended and Chief
Joseph said, “From where the sun now
stands, I will fight no more forever.”
Some Nez Perce escaped to Canada, but
after fierce fighting and a siege, the rest
of the band surrendered on October 5,
and most of the survivors were sent to
the Indian Territory in Oklahoma
Nez Perce Commemorative Sites
The Nez Perce National Historical Park,
established by Congress in 1965 and
managed by the National Park Service,
includes 38 sites in Idaho, Montana,
Oregon, and Washington that have
been important in the history and
culture of the Nez Perce.
Yellowstone Resources and Issues Handbook, 2019
SD
!
Billings
!
Bozeman
I D A H O
ND
Canyon
Creek
Battle
Big Hole
National
Battlefield
Many of these sites are also on the
1,170-mile (1,882-km) Nez Perce
National Historic Trail, established in
1986 and managed by the US Forest
Service. The route extends from
Wallowa Lake, Oregon, to the Bear’s
Paw Mountains in Montana. The
historic trail goes through the park, and
it is considered a sacred place by many
Nez Perce who continue to honor their
ancestors and carry on their memories
through ceremonies conducted in the
park. Beginning in 2006, the National
Park Service undertook a multiyear
archeological inventory project along
the Nez Perce trail through the park.
These efforts not only identified
locations of several Nez Perce, US
Army, and tourist encampments, but
also clarified the general route the Nez
Perce followed through the Absaroka
Mountains.
•
Nez Perce National Historic Trail:
http://www.fs.usda.gov/npnht/
•
Nez Perce National Historical Park:
http://www.nps.gov/nepe/
H IS T ORY
FREQUENTLY ASKED QUESTION:
Did other national parks exist before
Yellowstone?
Some sources list Hot Springs in Arkansas as the first
national park. Set aside in 1832, forty years before
Yellowstone was established in 1872, it was actually the
nation’s oldest national reservation, set aside to preserve
and distribute a utilitarian resource (hot water), much like
our present national forests. In 1921, an act of Congress
established Hot Springs as a national park.
Yosemite became a park before Yellowstone, but as a state
park. Disappointed with the results of state management,
26 years later in 1890, Congress made Yosemite one of
three additional national parks, along with Sequoia and
General Grant, now part of Kings Canyon. Mount Rainier
followed in 1899.
As Yellowstone’s second superintendent, Philetus
Norris set the future course of national parks on many
fronts: protection, addressing visitors’ needs and
interests, and science-based management. Despite a
lack of support from the Department of the Interior
or Congress, he pleaded for legislation that would
adequately protect the park, and he had grand
aspirations for Yellowstone.
public park or pleasuring-ground for the benefit and
enjoyment of the people.” In an era of expansion, the
federal government had the foresight to set aside land
deemed too valuable in natural wonders to develop.
Formative Years
The park’s promoters envisioned Yellowstone
National Park would exist at no expense to the
government. Nathaniel P. Langford, member of
the Washburn Expedition and advocate of the
Yellowstone National Park Act, was appointed to
the unpaid post of superintendent. (He earned
his living elsewhere.) He entered the park at least
twice during five years in office—as part of the 1872
Hayden Expedition and to evict a squatter in 1874.
Langford did what he could without laws protecting wildlife and other natural features, and without money to build basic structures and hire law
enforcement rangers.
Political pressure forced Langford’s removal in
1877. Philetus W. Norris was appointed the second superintendent, and the next year, Congress
As an older state park, Yosemite did have a strong
influence on the founding of Yellowstone in 1872 because
Congress actually used language in the state park act
as a model. It’s entirely possible that Congress may have
preferred to make Yellowstone a state park in the same
fashion as Yosemite, had it not been for an accident of
geography that put it within three territorial boundaries.
Arguments between Wyoming and Montana territories
that year resulted in a decision to federalize Yellowstone.
authorized appropriations “to protect, preserve, and
improve the Park.”
Norris constructed roads, built a park headquarters at Mammoth Hot Springs, hired the first “gamekeeper,” and campaigned against hunters and vandals. Much of the primitive road system he laid out
remains as the Grand Loop Road. Through constant
exploration, Norris also added immensely to geographical knowledge of the park.
Norris’s tenure occurred during an era of warfare between the United States and many Native
American tribes. To reassure the public that they
faced no threat from these conflicts, he promoted
the idea that Native Americans shunned this area
because they feared the hydrothermal features, especially the geysers. This idea belied evidence to the
contrary, but the myth endured.
Norris fell victim to political maneuvering and was
removed from his post in 1882. He was succeeded
by three ineffectual superintendents who could not
protect the park. Even when ten assistant superintendents were authorized to act as police, they failed to
stop the destruction of wildlife. Poachers, squatters,
woodcutters, and vandals ravaged Yellowstone.
The Army Arrives
In 1886 Congress refused to appropriate money
History of the Park
21
H IS T ORY
1901–1917 CE
1903
1906
1908
1915
1916
President Theodore
Roosevelt dedicates arch at
the North Entrance by laying
its cornerstone at Gardiner.
The Antiquities Act provides
for the protection of historic,
prehistoric, and scientific
features on, and artifacts from,
federal lands.
Union Pacific
train service
begins at West
Yellowstone.
Private automobiles
are officially
admitted to the
park.
The National Park Service
Organic Act establishes
the National Park Service.
for ineffective administration. The Secretary of the
Interior, under authority given by the Congress,
called on the Secretary of War for assistance. On
August 20, 1886, the US Army took charge of
Yellowstone. The Army strengthened, posted, and
enforced regulations in the park. Troops guarded the
major attractions and evicted troublemakers, and
cavalry patrolled the vast interior.
The most persistent menace came from poachers,
whose activities threatened to exterminate animals
such as the bison. In 1894, soldiers arrested a man
named Ed Howell for slaughtering bison in Pelican
Valley. The maximum sentence possible was banishment from the park. Emerson Hough, a well-known
journalist, was present at the arrest and wired his
Soldiers pose with bison heads captured from poacher
Ed Howell. When Howell returned to the park that
year, he was the first person arrested and punished
under the National Park Protection Act, passed in 1894.
Guidance for Protecting Yellowstone National Park
Yellowstone Purpose Statement
Yellowstone National Park, the world’s
first national park, was set aside as a
public pleasuring ground to share the
wonders and preserve and protect the
scenery, cultural heritage, wildlife, and
geologic and ecological systems and
processes in their natural condition for
the benefit and enjoyment of present
and future generations.
Significance of Yellowstone
•
Yellowstone N